Chapter Forty
Meg
“Get moving, you bum.”
It’s the first thing I hear as my head starts to pound and I
try to figure out where the hell I am.
I’m underneath something. Not a blanket. Newspaper. Someone
covered me with an old-school newspaper. What happened? We don’t have
newspapers in our village. I blink, forcing my eyes into focus as I stare up.
It’s night, but I can barely see the stars. There’s too much smog and too much
light. The stars are so bright outside the cottage. Where am I? Only a few
nights ago, I laid out on the grass with Cian, watching the stars and talking.
Cian told me his people’s stories for the constellations, and we made love on
an old quilt beneath the nighttime sky.
I can’t see the stars now.
“Cian.” His name is on my lips as I sit up. Everything
hurts, but nothing worse than the fact that they aren’t here with me. “Beck.”
His name comes out as a whisper because I know he won’t
answer. I can’t feel them. It’s like someone cut the connection, and I’m left
with nothing.
“Miss, is there something we can help you with?” The
question comes from a middle-aged woman who stands at the end of an alley
beside a well-dressed man. They stare down the short street where I’m lying
against a huge metal dumpster. The smell is making me sick.
“Where am I?” I’m not home anymore. That’s one thing I know
for sure, but where did the demon leave me? Could this be the Vampire plane? I
can work with that.
“How much have you had to drink?” the man asks. The woman
elbows him and sends him a dirty look. He sighs. “You’re in Fort Worth, Texas.
You’re not far from Sundance Square. Did you get lost?”
Oh, boy, did I get lost. The trouble is I need to get lost
again.
“Did you see a big guy walk by? You couldn’t miss him. He’s
really tall.” I struggle to my feet, stretching stiff limbs and wondering how
long I was out.
“I haven’t seen anyone really tall,” the woman replies,
shaking her head. “Do you need a homeless shelter? There’s a very nice one on
Cypress Street. It’s not far.”
“I don’t need a homeless shelter.” The full revelation of
what that asshole has done to me hits home. This isn’t the Vampire plane. This
is Earth. He brought me back, and I have no idea how to get to my husbands. “I
need a Planeswalker demon.”
The man takes the woman by the hand and forces her away.
I’ll have to watch my mouth on this plane. I walk out of the alley and realize
where I am. Down the block I can see the lights of a restaurant I’ve been to a
couple of times. Top. They have the best tortilla soup, and I often got it to
go. It’s one of the few things I miss about this place. My stomach grumbles at
the thought, but the freaking demon wasn’t nice enough to leave me with some
cash.
Top is my touchstone in reorienting myself on the plane.
It’s half a block to Sundance Square. It feels like moving through a dream.
It’s all familiar, but no longer mine.
Or is it? I catch sight of my reflection in the
window of a darkened storefront. I’m wearing brown pants, a white shirt, and a
black vest. I have on boots. It’s what I put on to go see the miller’s wife.
I’m not crazy. I really did go to another plane and married two beautiful men.
They need me. Tears spark in my eyes.
What will happen to them? What happens when the bond is
formed and then shut off? And the demon said a hag is after them.
How am I going to get home? I have to get home. I can’t stay
here. They need me and I need them.
I’m pulled from my panic as a group of people walk by,
jostling me. The sidewalks are crowded. I find myself pulled along with the
throng. It’s a mix of teens going to the movies, adults out on dates, families
seeing the sights, and singles looking for the clubs and bars that dot the
square. They all have one thing in common. Not a one of them will believe I’m
the queen of another plane of existence with two husbands who recently came
into their legendary powers and are now at risk because a fucking demon carted
me off the plane—again.
Yeah, I start talking like that and I’ll be on a psych hold.
I walk for what feels like an hour in a complete daze. I
have nothing. I have no way to get home. I don’t even have a coat, and while I
was gone, it got cold on the Earth plane. I don’t have a phone or any way to
call someone who might know me. The apartment I lived in is miles away from
here.
So I walk. I’m not sure why. Perhaps some instinct sparks me
or maybe I simply can think of nothing else to do.
I walk until the crowds are gone. I walk through the quiet
streets of downtown in abject misery. How can I accept the fact that there is
no way to get home? I’ll never be able to find the door to the Faery plane.
Even if I can, how will I open it? From what I understand the only creatures
who know where the doors are located are the Planeswalkers, and they require my
eternal soul in exchange for passage.
Even if I’m willing to sell it, how do I call one? It isn’t
like the last demon left a card.
Are there witches on this plane? Can they help me? How do I
even go about finding one?
A great wave of sorrow rolls over me as I finally have to
face the fact that Beck and Cian are gone. They’re separated from me by that
door as surely as death could ever force us apart.
Would they think I ran? I can’t stand the thought. I love
them.
I stop in the middle of the sidewalk, unable to take another
step since each one feels like a step away from them. I lean against the brick
of a building. The tears can be held off no longer, and I sob into my hands.
How can I be here, so far from them? I still feel them. Not the way I did
before. But they’re in my heart. The demon was right. I’m nothing on this
plane. I was someone on the Faery plane, and not because marriage made me a
queen. It wasn’t Beck and Cian’s love, either. Their love wasn’t what made me
into the woman I became there. My love had.
Loving them made me a better person. Love transformed my
heart into a huge thing with the capacity to forgive even myself.
I weep in the middle of the street and vow to hold on to it.
I’ll hold on to the love I have for them. If there’s any way to get back to
them, I will find it. There are vampires on this plane. Dante talked about
them. I read some interesting theories on them. Some believe they are the
original vampires and there’s a whole hidden society here on the Earth plane, a
mighty council that rules the supernatural world. I’ll find them. That’s what
I’ll do. I am a queen, and I can trade on that. The vampires will help me—if
they don’t eat me first.
I feel slightly better now that I have a plan. It’s an
insane plan, but it’s a plan. I stretch and feel the satchel on my hip and
realize I have something that might prove valuable. The vampire computer is
still in my bag. Its shape and weight are a joy. I won’t be able to connect to
the vampire version of the Internet, but there are thousands of DLs on every
subject imaginable that I can read. Dante showed me some anthropological
articles from a scientist who spent years on the Earth plane studying the vampires
here before his contract with the demon came up and he was dragged to hell.
Vampires are serious about science.
It’s getting late. I have to deal with the fact that I don’t
have a home anymore. I need to find a place to stay. Where did the lady say the
homeless shelter is?
Turning back to the sidewalk, a neon sign catches my eye. My
mouth drops open as I realize my salvation might not lie with a bunch of vamps.
Fate. It’s nothing less than fate. It is not coincidence that I walked through
the night to get to this spot.
I suddenly know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will get
home. I will see them again. The neon sign in front of me proves it.
Dellacourt Electronics
If it’s broke, we’ll fix it
And it looks like someone is still home. There’s a light on
in back of the store, and someone is moving around.
The Vampire and Earth planes are mirror planes. And that
means I might just have friends here. Oh, he doesn’t know we’re friends, but
he’s about to find out.
I bang on the door with all my might. I pound and pound, not
caring if I bother the neighbors.
“Dante!” I yell with a mad sort of glee. “Open the door,
Dante!”
After a long moment, a familiar face peeks out the window.
His eyes are narrow with suspicion.
“We’re closed, crazy lady.” The human version of Dante
points to the sign in the window that has been turned to Closed. He
obviously thinks I’m insane, but he’s still Dante. His eyes move straight to my
chest, and he boldly checks me out.
“I’m here for sex, Dante.” I know exactly how to manipulate
him if he’s anything like his other self.
Dante opens the door immediately.
“Really?” He’s slightly thinner than his vampire counterpart
and is dressed in worn jeans and a comic book T-shirt, but he’s Dante all the
same.
“No, idiot,” I say with a tearful smile as I push my way in.
I can’t help myself. He’s the best news I’ve had all day. He’s hope. I throw my
arms around him. “But I am so glad to see you.”
He hesitates only a second before letting his hands find my
waist. “I’m glad to see you, too. How do we know each other? If I owe you
money, I’m really sorry. I don’t have any. Did my sister send you?”
“No, Susan didn’t send me.” The explanations are going to
be…weird. “You don’t owe me money and get your hand off my ass. I’m a married
lady. And you’re going to help me get home.”
Dante steps back. “You want me to call you a cab?”
“If only it were that easy. I need a hell of a lot more from
you, but I know you’re up to the task. It’s fate. Do you believe in fate?”
“Not for a minute,” he says with a shrug. “Although, if it
gets me something, I’ll believe in fate, sweetheart. I can believe in anything
you like.”
There’s one thing I have that might make this less weird. Or
at the very least more believable. I reach into my satchel and pull out the
unassuming computer Vampire Dante gave me. It’s the proof I need. “How about
vampires?”
Human Dante makes a couple of vomiting sounds. “Oh, god, no.
Not one of those. Please go away, Twihard. Do you know how many comments I’ve
gotten since Twilight came out? I know I look a little like him, but
seriously, not even for tits like yours will I put in plastic fangs and act
like I can sparkle.”
So like his vampire counterpart. “First, you do not look
like him. Not even close. Second, I told you, I’m married. Third, please
sparkle for me. It would be funny. Now, shut up and listen. I think you’ll find
this interesting.” I hand the computer to him.
Dante takes the tablet but doesn’t seem impressed. “This is
an iPad. I think it’s nice that you have one. Can I go to bed now?”
“Let me turn it on.” I flip a switch and the menu comes up.
The menu in this case is a holographic female. As she was programmed by Dante,
she’s gorgeous and wears very little clothing.
“How may I help you, Dante love?” She also has a sexy voice.
“Holy shit,” Human Dante swears. “Where the hell did you get
this?”
I smile as hope surges. Now I have him.